New Account Payment Level: Plus Accounts, Euro Residents No Longer Pay VAT Tax

 

Yesterday in the official Second Life blog, there were two noteable announcements. Linden Lab stated it was introducing a fourth level for accounts, one between basic and Premium: Plus accounts. 

Continuing the theme of giving you more for less: We’re reducing the price of owning your piece of Second Life. We want to put Mainland ownership within reach of many more residents, because we think having land of your own is one of the key parts of Second Life.

This means there are now four account levels, Basic/free, Plus, Premium, and Premium Plus.

What Plus essentially does is allow you to get land in Second Life for a lower price. However, it appears Plus members are limited to owning mainland outside the Linden Home areas. They also get a weekly stipend of 150 Linden dollars, can have up to 512 square meters of mainland without making payments, and can join up to 50 groups (8 more than basic). This for the price of $5.99 USD , or $65.99 per year, (before taxes). This is about half the price of Premium accounts at $11.99 USD a month, or $99.99 a year (before taxes), which give you twice the stipend and free mainland allowance, a larger group capacity, a 1000L signup bonus, a Linden Home, the ability to buy private sims, and more. 

They were also lowering the price of mainland area.

In addition to the free allotment that comes with each membership level, we’re lowering the price at 1/8 region (8,192 m2) and higher by over 10%

 

And there is some good news for European residents. For several years, they have had to pay Vaule Added Tax, or VAT, on payments for Premium memberships. As of now, they no longer need to do so

The issue soon came up in the official forums. On the whole, people were happy with this move, though there were some questions.

To see the forum post in full, Click Here.

Bixyl Shuftan

News And Commentary: Questions Raised About Horizon Following Zuckerburg's Comments, Announcement of Creator Fees

 

It's no secret that many Second Life users roll their eyes at Linden Lab a lot. But can anyone else do a better job at developing a virtual world. The biggest company gicing it a try is Facebook/Meta, with it's Horizons. This virtual world has already been ridiculed for having avatars with nothing below the waist. But certain comments by the company founder plus how much of a cut it plans to take from content creators is making it look worse.

Read more in Other Grinds, MMOs, and Games.

Linden Dollar Prize Payments in Linden Games Cut in Half

 

At the interview with the Linden Moles at the RFL Home and Garden last Friday, there were a few issues discussed. Among them was a question from the audience, asking why the Linden dollar cash prizes awarded for winning three games created by the Lab via the Moles, Linden Realms, Paleoquest, and New Horizons, were cut in half? She wondered if this was a sign the games were about to be shut down.

Patch Linden agreed to answer, "No they are not gong away. I'll just be transparent about this." He stated there was "some level of abuse happening, some people taking advantage of how the games operate. And despite our clear warnings in place and otherwise, they were not heeding the advice to chill out, calm down, stop abusing it. And so we're starting to escalate measures on slowing that role. So if you are using any sort of programatic ways to get around the various anti-cheat devices in the games or botting or using any kind of software automation, which is forbidden in the rules. We will not only come after you and terminate your accounts, we will also start to cut the games down.

"I'm not going to close the games. That's certainly not on the agenda. But I will devalue them to the point it doesn't make sense for people to want to game them ..."

Saffia responded, "I think that's a real shame that people have been gaming them." She then brought up someone suggested, "they should be sent to the cornfield." Patch commented, "You could do that too."

So it seems of of the perks of these three Lidnen games, the Linden dollar cash prizes, will be reduced. How it will effect how many residents play has yet to be determined.

Click Here to go to the moment in the video the question was asked. 

Bixyl Shuftan

Breaking News: Linden Lab Cancels Basic Account Group Limit Cut

On Wednesday, Linden Lab announced that in addition to their Premium account price hikes and increasing the fees to cash out Linden dollars, they were cutting back the number of groups residents with basic accounts could have. The residents reacted quite negatively, more than a few calling the Lindens saying that more groups per resident was taxing the system either highly exaggerated, or outright false. Finally, the Lab partially relented. Less than two hours ago on the official blogs, the Lab announced that due to the "strong and convincing feedback from many in our community," they were cancelling the cuts for basic account group limits.

... many Residents have shared how they rely heavily on Groups to stay informed about new product releases as Merchants use this feature to regularly communicate news and updates to their customers, and how much Groups are used for keeping communities active.

We hear your concerns and, as a result, Group Membership limits for Basic Residents will NOT be reduced as part of our Premium Membership changes rolling out on June 24.

The other parts of the May 29 announcement, notably the Premium account price increases and the cashing out fees doubling, remain the same.

Linden Lab Raising Price of Premium Accounts, Reducing Group Capacity in Basic Accounts

Yesterday on Wednesday May 29, Linden Lab announced "Land Price Reductions, New Premium Perks, and Pricing Changes." But it's the "Pricing Changes" that are getting most of the attention plus The "Premium and Basic Account Changes."

The Lab announced "the difficult decision to make our first Premium price increase in over a decade." Their monthly rate was going up by over 25% from $9.50 USD a month to $11.99. Their quarterly rate was going up by almost 50% from $22.50 every three months to $32.97. And their yearly rate was going up by almost 40% from $72 a year to $99.

The Lab did say on June 3 they would be offering a "limited time offer" until June 24 for Premium account residents to renew at the old rate for one more cycle, including for those being billed monthly to switch to quarterly or annually and for those billed monthly to go quarterly. For basic accounts going Premium, being billed quarterly would no longer be an option. That option would remain only for existing Premium accounts.

Linden Lab was also increasing the credit processing fee for selling Linden dollars to Paypal and Skrill accounts from 2.5% per transaction to 5% (with a minimum fee of $3). In Nov 2017, it was raised from 1.5% to 2.5%. The Lab gave "increased regulatory and compliance costs" as the reason.

The good news for Premium account residents, Linden Lab announced that effective June 24, their group limit would rise from 60 to 70. The number of stored offline IMs would rise from 50 to 80. Unfortunately, Basic account residents would be taking a hit. Their group limit would be cut from 42 to 35, and their stored offline IMs would go down from 25 to 15.

This is the first time that group capacity for residents has been trimmed back. In October 2010, the limit for all accounts was raised from 25 to 40. In January 2011 it was raised to 42. In June 2015, it was raised to 60 for Premium residents, with regular ones still having a limit at 42.

The best news was for landowners. Linden Lab announced that the tier for full sims was going down again, effective June 3. For most, it would be from $249 USD to $229. The rate for grandfathered, or "bought-down", sims was also being cut, from $195 USD to $179. The $30 fee to add to the prim limit was unchanged.

The residents were quick to react, numerous comments in two threads in the Discussion Forums, "$99 Problems," and "What Are Your Opinions ..." There's also one in VR Universe. Needless to say, there were many expressing disappointment and anger, with accusations the Lab was acting out of greed.

For the blog post in full, Click Here.

Linden Lab Cutting Land Prices And Setup Fees, Increasing Linden Dollar Purchase Fees, No New Openspace Sims After June

Some big news from Linden Lab, especially if you own a lot of land. Yesterday on Wednesday June 20, it was announced on the official blog , as well as by Ebbe Linden during his "Meet the Lindens" interview yesterday at the SL15B, that starting on July 2, the tier for private sims was being cut 15%. It was also announced that the fees to set up a private sim were being reduced "by as much as 41%." But, there's some "fine print." And to help offset these reduced land charges, the fee to buy Linden dollars is going up.

Effective July 2, monthly maintenance fees on Private Estates are dropping by up to 15%! In addition, one-time land set-up fees are also reduced by as much as 41%.  And remember, the setup fee includes your first month’s payment. Discounts will vary based on the type of land ...


The catch? First, Skill Games areas are not eligible for the tier cut. Grandfathered sims, which the Lab also called "bought down," are not eligible either, "since those are still below the newly-reduced rates." And if you were thinking of getting an Openspace sim, you don't have much time. The Lab announced after June, no more new ones will be available. For those who need a reminder, Openspace sims, also known as "void sims," are "intended for very low-impact scenic use such as ocean, forest, or countryside," and have a capacity of 1000 prims and ten avatars. They cost $150 US to set up and have a $75 US tier each.

The other part of the catch will affect many more residents. The Lab announced that starting July 2, to "help us offset the revenues lost on land," the charge for buying Linden dollars is going up from $.99 US per transaction to $1.49, an increase of slightly fifty percent. This is the second increase in the purchase fee in less than a year, the previous increase in November being from 60 to 99 cents. So in several months, the fee to buy Linden dollars has been raised by almost 150% .

So what's going on? The general feeling is that Linden Lab is trying to transfer the money paid by the residents, so less is made by landowners, and more is made by shoppers, in order to bring a halt to the long slow decline over time in the number of privately owned sims, which while having slowed down in recent months hasn't really stopped.

While some landowners are no doubt looking forward to lower tiers, there has been one critic so far. MarkTwain White posted in the comments under the article in Modem World, "The newly announced 15% tier-rate reduction is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. That reduction Does NOT apply to us that have paid incredibly higher fees (200% on average) to have our lands reduced to grandfather rates in the past (thus in one big Catch-22 causing us to pay fees only to be excluded from the new fee reduction. The subtle Second Life 'screw you' here is that we now have to pay 50% higher transaction fees' to cover the our (SL’s) increase in costs for reducing your tie.' ...Experienced land rental companies get none of these discounts that LL is offering to the new companies they hope to attract due to reduced fees designed to increase their income while at the same time building a new tax basis made up of future rental companies that will become the target of new usurious fee increases. LL had done it more than once. This is classic LL policy: squeeze blood from current content providers (developers of properties to sell or lease) but go after new blood to bring new fees (taxes) to LL...."

So will the Lab see more people buying sims? Or will the long slow decline continue while shoppers buy less Linden dollars and merchants end up making less money? Time will tell.

For more information, check the announcement by Linden Lab here.
Additional sources: SL Grid Survey, Modem World

Bixyl Shuftan

Linden Lab Stops Development and Support of Three Non-Second Life Products

Linden Lab is trimming it's product line. In a statement made yesterday, they announced that they would no longer be developing or supporting three less successful goods, Versu, Dio, and Creatorverse.

After careful consideration, Linden Lab has decided to cease development and support for dio, Versu, and Creatorverse. We’re grateful for those who took the time to experiment with these products in their early days, but ultimately we have determined that due to a number of factors, we and our customers will be best served by focusing our efforts on continuing to provide exceptional service and compelling new experiences for the users of our other products.

Creatorverse was an iPad application launched in Sept 18, 2012 that drew comparisons to another app, "Crayon Physics Deluxe," which was made several years ago. Dio was announced in January 27, 2013 as a "creative and social experience" in which people could "create places by adding text, photos, videos, and interactive objects into interconnected 'rooms' " that people compared to a MUD or MUSH with pictures. Versu, released on February 14, 2013, was an interactive fiction (aka choose-your-own-adventure) product that gave the reader options on how the story would proceed. While some thought it was a good application, it was noted there were already a number of interactive readers with established markets that Linden Lab would have to spend effort and money to break into.

The end of these applications leaves Linden Lab with just three products other than Second Life. These are "Patterns," which has gotten comparisons to Minecraft, "Blocksworld," a child-friendly application where players can build things with blocks, and "Desura," a digital distribution service much like Steam, but with an emphasis on smaller, independent games. Of these, only Patterns was developed by Linden Lab. The other two were acquired.

(edited later) When Hamlet Au interviewed Ebbe Altberg, he stated “We’ll do some clean-up, there’s some things that are not as aligned." So this seems to be Ebbe's first major decision as Linden Lab's new boss.

Bixyl Shuftan